Vancouver is graciously placed between sea and mountain and that is where I was born, so the sea and the mountains are part of the very fibre of my being.

But my first real close-up memory of the sea was when I was perhaps 6 or 7 years old & I was fishing with my father in a small rowboat in Active Pass, which is a passage between Mayne and Galiano islands on the way from Vancouver to Victoria. Because it was a small boat I could lean over the side and run my hand through the profoundly green, deep water. I found the water both frightening and utterly beautiful and I was deeply moved by its power. It is with me forever.